stupid and senseless not only of their secular but eternal interest the former is utterly false and the latter absurd therefore it is more than probable no such confutation could beform'd That the Wisdome and Majesty the Purity and Holyness the Misteries and Prophesies of it are so many tracks of Divine Glory which bespeak God its Author it being very improbable that e're the Devil should be so set against himself as to promote that Holiness which is so contradictory to his nature and tho he should have blended it with speculative errors that cannot be thought a mischief able to satisfie him for all the good it hath done in the world nor would such a design savour enough of the malice of Hell for surely God will never make a good man eternally miserable for a speculalative Error into which his Humility and Resignation to God and such strong probabilities not to say more betray'd him But suppose against all Reason that it were Fictitious what can any man suffer by the belief of these Principles certainly they tend to make us like God and there is no article which reflects any disparagement upon the Divine Nature but discovers it to the World in the greatest and the loveliest characters and therefore unavoidably if any Religion than this will secure our future Life As to the present if our Life be clouded and o'recast by afflictions these Principles alone can support us under them because these only are substantial grounds of courage or content if our Life be calm and fair no man injoyes it with a more constant and untroubled satisfaction than the Religious for Religion only crowns our outward prosperities with a firm peace and content within And yet all the clamour rais'd against Religion is this that it enviously intrenches upon the pleasures of Nature and wheadles us out of the possession of present pleasures by the deceitful promises of future In answer I would fain know of any the most fortunate Epicure for I confess I have never been lucky enough to discover any such state whether there be any enjoyment rich as Fancy and ravishing as Dotage if there be of what constancy and unmixt purity it is for if it be not fixt and steady then a constant chearful Life as free from uneasie fears desires and troubles and repentances as from the taste of such luscious Meals is surely to be preferr'd before a few fortunate minutes of a Life in the general disorder'd and troubl'd or whether accounts being stated rightly we may not safely conclude that there is no such thing as such an enjoyment much less any permanent state of it and then I may easily defend Religion as to this point for then it is but reasonable that our desires should be calm and temperate and that we should sit down content with such easie and obvious pleasures as suit this state of imperfection and child-hood and if so what harm can Christianity do men as God expostulates with his People Testifie against me wherein have I wronged thee It doth not forbid us to like but dote it doth not forbid us to enjoy the World but it forbids us to equal it with Heaven And when it hath once fixt the limits of worldly happiness aright it is so far from driving us out of the reach of it that it is the onely path to it we sail within those Sea marks which if we slight we dash on Rocks and Sands for Answer me Are the Faculties of our Soul rendred more uncapable of Happiness because cultivated and improv'd imploy'd to useful and ingenious purposes not lost on trifles are our Senses less subtle and judicious because the Body is preserv'd in an entire and vigorous health by temperance and imployment and content of mind As to the Objects of our affections Is a Good Estate less useful or less creditable by being spent temperately and Charitably Is Greatness the less firm or the less glorious because its Basis is Vertue Is a Beauty the less taking because innocent and vertuous of all the pleasures of humane Life I have alwayes thought Friendship the dearest and certainly sense as well as wit true courage and honor and constancy the product of Religion as well as the Accomplishments of Nature and gentile Education must go to make it perfect and delightful when any are endear'd by a generous goodness by an innocent and undefigning passion by a combination of vertues and a confederacy of rational delights and glorious hopes I am confident no debauch'd mind can ever fancy any thing so charming and romantick and if this be the case if this be all that Religion doth that is if it be onely a wise method to happiness fet on foot by the goodness and contriv'd by the Wisdome of God I cannot discover any just ground of quarrel against it I cannot see how the sinner can get clear off from these Arguments remember then 't is a disingenious kind of confidence to return only raillery for answer to Arguments and to think a loud laughter a sufficient confutation of important truths Be not deceived God will not be mocked a day is coming when the secrets of all hearts shall be laid open when God will argue his own cause in a flaming vengeance and then what a miserable Tragedy will thy Mirth and Pleasure the Sinner and his World end in What astonishment and dread will seize upon every Soul which hath hardened it self against the Gospel of Christ how miserably fool'd and cheated will all the gay and jolly Sinners find themselves But glory honour and peace will be the portion of every one who worketh righteousness The Prayer O Thou holy Spirit of God thou divine principle of a divine life remove all blindness hardness and impenitence from off the hearts of all those who read the truths of the Gospel of Christ and grant that they may receive the word of Christ with an entire humility and pure Affections and bring forth the fruit of it in their Conversation that when the winds blow and the rain descends and the floods beat they may be like houses built upon a rock and stand unshaken in the great day of Judgement Amen Amen FINIS A Catalogue of Books printed for and sold by Robert Pawlet at the Sign of the Bible in Chancery Lane near Fleetstreet VIllare Anglicanum or a view of all Towns Villages c. In England and Wales alphabetically composed so that naming any Town or place you may readily find in what Shire Hundred Rape Wapenstake it is in Also the number of Bishopwricks Counties under their several jurisdictions and the Shire Towns Boroughs and Parishes in each County by the appointment of the eminent Sir Henry Spelman Kt. The Nuns Complaint against the Friers being the Charge given in the Court of France by the Nuns of St. Katharines near Province against the Father Fryers their Confessors shewing their abuses in their allowance of undecent Books and Love-letters and marriages of the Fryers and
his infinite wisedom thought it necessary to send his Son into the world and therefore it is necessary to eternal Life to believe in Jesus Christ whom he hath sent and about him we are inform'd in the Gospel that he is the Son of God that he was made Man and liv'd here upon Earth that he might teach us our Duty and leave us an Example of it that he was crucified for our sins that he rose again from the Dead and after forty dayes sojourning here he was received into glory and became the Head and Prince of his Church c. The Belief of all which illustrates the Justice and Mercy of the Most High God assures us of the truth of his promises i. e. The assistance of the Spirit of God and eternal Rewards and superadds most powerful Obligations to obedience and layes an unshaken foundation of Joy and Peace by shewing us on what account our sins are pardon'd and our services accepted So that now there will need but few words to prove 2. That this knowledge doth directly serve the End and Aims of Religion which must be Gods Glory and Mans Happiness the former is already prov'd for to Glorifie and to Worship God are equivalent terms the later easily appears thus in that this Belief doth 1. Rescue us from the power of sin by powerful motives and endearments to and by supernatural assistances of virtue and 2. From the guilt of it by the Blood of Christ and so it frees us from the misery of unruly passions and from the slavish Fears of Death and Hell 3. It composes our minds in all the various changes of the world by the firm perswasion of the wisedom power and goodness of the God who governs it And lastly it delights and satisfies our Souls by the discovery of Objects fit for their love and enjoyment which is no less essentially necessary to our present happiness than any of the former for Man being a weak and empty Creature cannot like God find his happiness in the fruition of himself but must seek it in something else which must be able to fill all his desires and appetites and satisfie all his Capacities of enjoyment O Happy Christian that conquers the World and himself that is freed from all fears and jealousies about a future State and enjoys the ravishing Objects of a glorious Faith well may the Holy Spirit make up the Description of this State of characters of Joy Peace and Hope 2. But now Secondly that this Happiness may be intire it is neessary to secure the peace of my own bosome as to the matters of Faith And this may be disturbed two wayes either by doubting of the Truth or else the Sence of Divine Revelation we are tempted to the former commonly by this Argument These things cannot be therefore the Book which contains the History of them is an imposture To the later by much the same Argument These things cannot be therefore since we cannot deny the authority of Scripture we must explain them in some other sense Both proceed upon this botome I cannot understand or conceive the possibility of this or that therefore it cannot be To secure my self from the first of these I consider the infinite Majesty of the God we worship and the trifling dwarfish Capacities of us Men and then I wonder not that some Articles should rather surprise and dazle my faculties than enlighten them To expect otherwise were to forget the nature of mysteries and of my self it is true to believe without a Reason for it is Credulity not Faith but then Revelation is the highest Reason for the belief of things supernatural there being no other mean left us to attain to their knowledge so that all that Reason can have to do here is not to discuss the probability of the Article revealed but the Authority of the revelation and this being once clear'd to surrender up our doubts and scruples which is weighing the shallowness of our understandings and the depths of mysteries no more than in a tedious long journey our eyes being dim and the way unknown and intricate to abandon our selves to the conduct of a kind skillful and faithful Guide The Sum of all is this Man is born like a wild Asses Colt and arrives into a rational Creature by painful institution and slow progressions the Soul being clouded by Passions imprison'd and limited by scanty Organs perverted by unhappy prejudices and therefore 't is a very wild and extravagant piece of folly to make ones own understanding the great standard and measure of all truth or to determine that the utmost of our Fancy is the utmost extent of Nature and of the Deity too for on the other hand God is a great and incomprehensible Being Great is the Lord and greatly to be prais'd and his greatness is unsearchable Psal 145.3 and therefore by a clear consequence our Faith is not the less reasonable because it is the more resign'd an awful distance and a modest Faith is as essential a part of Holiness as the conformity of our Wills to the Divine Law These very Considerations will serve to secure me 2. Against all doubts about the Sense of Revelation for the received and general sense appears to be the more natural and obvious and therefore no objection lies against it but what is already remov'd the seeming impossibility of it and if it be further consider'd that the Gospel was address'd to persons of very ordinary endowments and therefore to be understood in its most obvious sense that it is most conformable to that humble infant Spirit Christ requires in his Disciples to qualifie them for the reception of his Doctrine to Believe rather than Dispute That the receiv'd sense is the sense of the whole Catholick Church That an Errour of judgement which springs from Humility not Pride will be rather pitied than punish'd by a good God this all together will easily raise my Faith above all scruple and wavering Especially if I add to all this this one Observation That the Adversaries of any one Article of Faith have never made up one entire Body but several Sects divided by numerous and contradictory Tenents built up upon different Foundations that they have never been able to propagate any thing but wild and unaccountable fancies that they have set Scripture at a more irreconcileable distance from it self and instead of clearing its mysterious senses have made its plainest sense a Mystery From all this I am oblig'd to resolve not to gaze and stare upon Majesty lest I be blinded by the shine of it but worship and adore that I may be blest by it I 'le look upon my Creed like the Ark of God 2 Sam. 6. It must not be toucht by a bold hand though to support it all its Articles are like the Stones of the Altar Exod. 20. to lift up a tool of a Workman upon them tho with design to polish and adorn is nothing else but to profane and
unhallow them If after all this I chance to Err I do not doubt but that the purity of my intention the diligence of my inquiry the meekness and intireness of my Resignation will through the mercies and goodness of a gracious God secure my Heaven and render my error innocent and harmless All that is behind now is in the 3. Third place to preserve my Charity for my Neighbour least that Faith which should be the strong engagement to union become the unhappy Instrument of Divisions To this end I consider 1. That the Controversies now on foot in Christendome are not about the Truth but sense of Divine Revelation none at all calling into question the veracity but the meaning of God and therefore I cannot conceive the glory of God any more lessen'd or injur'd by variety of Opinions than by variety of Capacities unless in their consequence 2. As the bare assent to a Truth doth not save so I see no reason why the holding of an Error should damn unless it be such as hath a sinful Original or Issue or such as is not consistent with the Honour and Glory of the Most High God and indeed no Opinion which lessens the Majesty of the Most High God can be taken up by any one professing Christianity but that it must begin or end in Sin But yet the aggravation or extenuation of the guilt of a Man thus erring may depend upon so many circumstances as Capacity Education Means and Opportunity of better information the strength of prejudices c. That he must be left to the judgment of God alone and my duty as a private Christian is to love and pray for him and to endeavour his reducement by all the pious Subtleties I can This is the general Rule of the Apostle Let not the Weak judge the Strong nor the Strong despise the Weak I will live in the peaceful temper of these perswasions happy in the enjoyment of a smooth and settled Calm resign'd up to God stanch and consistent in my self and possess'd by charitable hopes of my Neighbour I 'le endeavour to keep a Conscience void of offence towards God and towards Man and then I hope I may at last resign my Spirit into the hands of a faithful Creator in the Joyes and Transports of this Precious Christian Faith The Prayer GLorious and incomprehensible God suppress in me all proud thoughts all wild and wanton Curiosities and keep my Soul in the humble frame of new born Babes Thou dwellest in Light inaccessible my Soul in a cloud of Flesh and Bloud my Faculties are weak and tainted and thy Light dazling and therefore it is not for me Lord it is not for me saucily to discuss or pragmatically to determine of but humbly to receive and heartily to embrace those Mysteries which thou a God of Truth of Goodness and of Power hast vouchsaf'd to reveal to us by the Son of thy Bosome Lord I confess that tho these Mysteries have a dark they have a bright side too for tho I cannot see thorow them yet I see enough to oblige me to worship Thee in Humility and Love and these these I hope will secure me in thy Love through Christ Lord I believe help thou mine unbelief enlighten my blindness quicken and enliven my dulness support my frailties disperse my Passions free me from all the prejudices which clog my sinful nature and finally beget in me an earnest desire after those blissful Mansions where my Faith shall be swallowed up in Vision Amen blessed Jesus Thus I have consider'd the Christian Faith and secur'd my own Peace But there are multitudes of People of a lower Rank and Capacity who may not it may be reach the design of this Section who are distracted by the numerous Controversies every where on foot and frightned by the rash zeal of their Abetters For the satisfaction of such I consider That it is easie to deduce from the Gospel That the Almighty will judge men by their several measures and opportunities 2. That the great Fundamentals of Religion are clear as day light and therefore the Gospel is call'd Light and the Grace of God is said to appear unto all men which tho I suppose primarily meant in opposition to the darkness of Gentilism and in some measure of Judaism too and to that narrower limitation of this Grace under the Mosaical Oeconomy implies with all the clearness of the Gospel of which were there no other proof this one would suffice That the Gospel was design'd for the benefit of all Mankind and more immediately preach'd to the Poor and Silly and Refuse of the World The consequence of this is that it seems at least to me wholly improbable that any Body should be betray'd into a necessity of Erring in Fundamentals unless they be accessory to their own error and therefore this being once granted I may resolve all I can think of necessary for the Multitude in to two directions 1. That holding fast to manifest Fundamentals they for the rest submit themselves to the Government they are under which will be safe for them upon three Accounts 1. That the points controverted are such which they are not of necessity oblig'd to know 2. That they themselves are not capable of making any solid inquiry and therefore to resign themselves to those set over them is the utmost of their duty 3. That in this Case their submission to the publick Authority of the Church they are of is an act of Obedience and Humility and most conformable to the command of God and the peace and unity of the world 2. That they never prefer a doubtful opinion to the prejudice of a plain Precept or Duty a Man may go to Heaven tho he be not of this or that opinion but without Obedience and Charity he cannot but to do this is to stickle for a Sect in violation of Obedience and Charity and to prefer an humor before ones Duty which is a certain Symptom of a mind infatuated by pride or perverted by interest CHAP. III. Of Christianity with respect to Practice and that 1. In general and 2. In particular Sect. 1. OF Practice in general which contains Being and Doing Good We are born into a World full of Snares and Temptations and we our selves are Creatures blind and yet wilful weak and yet wanton too and upon these accounts we are vouchsaf'd the favour of Divine Revelation to conduct us thorow our Pilgrimage to enable us to fight the good fight of Faith and to prevent our miscarrying thorow the Deceitfulness of Sin and the frailty of humane nature and therefore whoever doth not improve this gift of God into all these Advantages and Benefits defeats the design of Heaven and receives the grace of God in vain Besides all this the great Author of all things hath declar'd himself a God jealous of his honour and delighted in the happiness of his Creatures from whence I naturally infer that that only can be a design
as such And as insignificant would this opinion render it to the happiness of Man for of what use will all the excellent rules of Justice Charity Meekness Temperance c. prove if we continue peevish and revengeful intemperate and lustful c. to what purpose are the fuller discoveries of another World Life and Immortality and the Belief of Jesus being the Son of God if they do not enable us to conquer the world and mortifie the flesh and if I walk according to the Laws of the Flesh i. e. Violate the Laws of the Spirit can I choose but dread a God whom I have wrong'd and will not unruly Passions and a troubled Conscience make a Christian as miserable as a Jew or Heathen If Goodness now be the end and drift of the holy belief of Christians then I infer 1. That the best Man is the best Son of the Church and he whose affections are more rais'd and heavenly and hath least of the mixture of sensuality is of the highest form in the School of Christ because he doth best answer the design of his Lord and walks in some measure as he walk'd 2. That the most infallible characters of a true Faith are to be taken from the government of our Passions our conquest o're the world and the increase of our inward joy and peace and hope Good Lord how apt are we to put a a cheat upon the World and our selves to perswade it and our selves that we believe tho there be no change in our Souls and Conversations and therefore consequently we do nothing less I shall hereafter never think that I believe aright till I have a Love for all his Commandments till I can meditate delightfully pray vigorously relie constantly obey readily suffer patiently rejoyce humbly expect reverently and happy is me if I attain that height earnestly too the hour of my death or the appearance of my Lord. I shall never hereafter think that I have studied or known divine truth to any purpose till the Truth hath made me free rescued me from the bondage of Sin and fears of Death The Prayer THou Holy Pure and Eternal Spirit who canst not indure iniquity who dost so love goodness that thou hast sent thy Son into the world to promote it his Life and his death his Pains and his blood were spent in this Cause O enable thy poor Servant who names the name of Christ to hunger and thirst after righteousness and to depart from iniquity Lord let thy truth and thy Spirit be powerful in me to the subduing all of evil inclinations I believe that all things are naked and bare before thee and therefore that thou canst not be mock'd or impos'd upon by specious pretences or formalities That I am not to expect to appear any other in thy Eyes than such as I am in my self inable me therefore to confess thee in my practice as well as words to live like one who believ'd thy holy Truths Let my heart be fixt in Honesty and uprightness to obey all thy Commandments Let the Belief of things not seen have the same influence upon me they had upon all thy holy Saints Martyrs and Confessors i. e. Perswade me to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live soberly righteously and holily in this present world through Jesus Christ Sect. 2. Of doing Good There are a sort of People who indeavour all they can to withdraw from the world and rid their hands of business and think it abundantly sufficient if they can discharge their duty towards God in their Retirements This is Lawful nay commendable only upon two accounts 1. If my Temper or Circumstances be such that my Conversation cannot be publick and safe too for then the Salvation of my own Soul is naturally the most near and dear concern or 2. If my qualifications are such that my retirement is likely to prove more advantagious to the publick than my filling any other Post for then I act according to the Rules of Charity There are two other Inducements to a retir'd Private Life The one founded in a vice the other in a mistake 1. The First is when Men withdraw from the Business as from the trouble of the World and their Pleasure not Religion is their first and chief motive They meet with many rubs and oppositions in a busie Active Life and then they grow soft and weak and lasie and they want Courage and Industry and the frequent interruptions of their private peace and enjoyment is uneasie and they would withdraw to enjoy themselves and this is unchristian and unmanly 't is Epicurism not Contempt of the World 2. The mistake is when we look upon a Monastical kind of life as the whole of Christianity and the meer Perfection of the Regenerate state and place Piety so wholly in acts of solitary Devotion as to seclude the doing good and communicating c. It will behove such to consider 1. That true and apparent Motives Pretence and Religion are sometimes so twisted together that it is hard for a man to distinguish 'em and therefore some secret weakness or reserve may be the real whilst zeal is made the pretended cause of this choice 2. That the Busie and Active Life is the more Excellent and the more necessary 1. the more excellent as being fuller of hazards and troubles and temptations there is a larger field for virtues for Patience Courage Meekness Reliance c. in an active than speculative life and such will receive more Crowns And when I consider the Nature of God and necessities of Mankind I cannot but think acts of Charity as prevalent to the wiping off our guilt as the severest penances A vigorous and active life spent in promoting the welfare of others is a more perfect instance of self denial speaks a greater contradiction to our ease and pleasure commits more violence upon our inclinations than any acts of private Austerity can pretend to do for besides the Pains the watching and the fasting incident to both a like the trouble of Contrivance the industry of addresses the uneasiness of refusals c. sufficiently weigh down the one side Besides this Confinement imprisons our light under a bushel it is a Cover a Napkin for our Talents to conceal them and render them useless to others and therefore our reward will be less in another world and our graces the fainter in this For to him what hath i. e. useth shall be given Grace like the Widows Oile increases by being charitably imparted That Flame which warms my Neighbour reflects back with a double heat upon my self and that Goodness which cherishes his heart softens and sanctifies my own And over and above all this I enjoy a strange delight in doing good and in beholding the fruits which my own hands have planted And my assurance and the confidence of my hopes encreases by the conscience of that Love which my works convince me I have for my Brethren 2. That a busie
set my self to my duty and submit to his blessed Will whether he think fit to Crown my Cup with over-flowing joy and to reward my labour by inward transports or not And is it not fit I should thus Love my God whatever there be which can take and endear a rational and excellent spirit is to be found in him all the notions I can possibly frame to my self of a spiritual perfection and Beauty I conceive united in him Goodness Wisdome Power Truth Constancy are the Characters by which the Gospel discovers him to us and these have unspeakable charms upon all ingenious minds and they are intelligible enough to any that will consider them it is true he is a spirit and so incomprehensible to us in his essence and therefore I cannot frame to my self an Image for my Love as one friend doth of another but the time will come when I shall be spiritual enough to see him as I am seen and then my delight and Love will be proportionable in some measure to his beauty and perfection in the mean time my Reason as well as the Gospel assures me that he is infinitely aimable tho that beauty be now a Light that is inaccessible But besides this that great Character of Love and Mercy manifested in its most excellent lustre in the Gospel is enough to endear him to us He is not now our Father only upon the account of Creation and Providence because he hath made us fed and cloathed us these are Common and trivial mercies compar'd to the obligations of the Gospel i. e. the Redeeming us from our evil conversation by the blood of Chriâ—â— and the power of his Spirit into that holiness which is his own Image and resemblance the designing us for the joys and pleasures of his own Heaven his readiness to pardon our transgressions his care employ'd upon us against temptations his delight in us c. If the World could shew us such evidences of Love or could assure us of such an Eternity if it could tell us as the Serpent did Eve eat and ye shall be as God then indeed there were temptation in it but till it does there 's none really Besides these two considerations of the aimableness of the divine nature in himself his goodness to us including his infinite power too there is but one thing more which can be a proper motive to engage our affections that is that such an object be lasting and this is the great prerogative of God alone that he never changes nor dies he will for ever be what he is now most perfect and most gracious The Prayer O Glorious God it is the sole excellence of my Nature that I am capable of loving thee and it is my glorious priviledge that thou art pleas'd to suffer and admit of the addresses of my Soul in this only I am a kin to Angels In those talents which serve only to the end of a corporal life I am out done by Brutes O therefore give me grace to dwel as often as I can in the divine contemplations of thy nature to look forward to that glory which thy bounty hath reveal'd and promis'd me to consider by what methods of infinite Love thou dost prepare me for it and let all this make me love thee above all things and desire to know nothing but Thee my Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and him crucified Amen Amen 2. The Second part of Charity is the Love of our Neighbour of which now Charity is in short the Love of our Brethren or a kind of Brotherly affection one towards another the Rule and Standard by which we are to examine and regulate this Habit is that love we bear Ourselves or that which Christ bore us that is that it be unfeigned constant and out of no other design but their happyness The Apostle 1. Cor. 13. taking Charity in a most comprehensive sense as it animates all other graces and influences all our actions which relate to our Neighbour doth thus divinely describe it Charity suffereth long and is kind Charity envieth not Charity vaunteth not it self is not puffed up doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh no evil rejoyceth not in iniquity or wrong but rejoyceth in the truth faithfulness or fair dealing beareth all things or rather covereth or concealeth i. e. others Error believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things But now to reduce all to fewer heads and to consider Charity in a closser sense it contains two things 1. The doing good to and 2. Forgiving one another The things which are capable of receiving any benefit by our Charity are our Neighbours Reputation Body Soul and therefore 1. Charity secures mans credit by denouncing a Hell to the Slanderer and Whisperer and Evil speaker c. This Charity obligeth us not to give way to weak surmises but to be forward to believe the best in favour and excuse of an Error not to proclaim anothers faults though true and real unless the discovery may serve a better end than the concealment which is that thinkest no evil beareth all things that believeth all things in the Apostle and if it forbid these sins much more those blacker of open Slanders and private whispers Nor doth this Charity oblige us only not to wrong our Neighbours credit but as far as we can not to suffer it to be wrong'd to protect and generously rescue their Reputations from the jaws of the Persecutor to awe and check the Slanderer by the Majesty of an holy Anger into shame and Confusion for otherwise we become accessary to those slanders we entertain and give ear to If we consider that to blast a mans Reputation is to render him the Scorn and Hate of others and a Burden to himself it cannot be that we should be willing to heap such killing mischiefs upon the Head of one we Love and Charity is suppos'd to love all 2. Charity ministers to the Body of our Neighbour if we will act like men possess'd by that Charity which suits with the Spirit of the Gospel our Hearts and Hands must be alwayes open to our Brothers necessities our Souls must delight to do good and to be kind And if we are not able to redress their grievances or relieve their pressures by our wealth or interest we must ease them by our compassion comfort 'em by holy advice and succour them by our Prayers ' All that profess Christianity believe this a Duty and yet how great and numerous are the sufferings of the needy and distressed and more great and numerous are the luxuries and the wantonnesses of the Rich but it happens thus all acknowledge the duty but shift it off by two pretences 1. Their own inability 2. The demerit or unworthiness of the needy person In answer to the first pretence it must be confess'd that it is not only Lawful but our duty to make provision first for our selves and those who are more
not true Faith it is as broad as long for not to dispute whether in the place mention'd the reasons of unfruitfulness was in the seed or in the ground whether it be true Faith or not I 'me sure it is not saving Faith so that the Rule given us whereby to discern and judge of our state is a very plain and easie one viz. He that overcometh the World is born of God If it should be further inquir'd how a man shall know whether he overcomes the World tho he may with as much sense ask me how he shall know what he loves and hates what he shuns and persues the answer is very plain his Servants ye are to whom you obey So that the whole State of this question may be in few words reduc'd to this no man can be a stranger to his own actions nor to the operations of his own soul what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him which words if I have any logick contain two things 1. That a man knowes his own mind or if he do not then 2. That no man else can therefore since a man knows his own actions and his own affections what he doth and out of what principles he doth it he cannot chuse but know who it is he obeyes but if his Life be so various so made up of vice and virtue and the flesh and spirit be so evenly pois'd that which hath the preheminence whom he obeyes be a matter very doubtful and disputable to himself then whether he shall be saved or no must remain to himself and much more to all others God alone excepted equally doubtful and I can guess at no other expedient for him if he hath a mind to rid himself of this scruple than entirely to compleat his conquest over sin and to shake off that empire over sin which it seems to me hath been too long and deeply settled and established and to go on from one degree of grace unto another till he arrives at Perfection which is the only method to obtain that full assurance of hope mention'd Heb 6 11. With which I intend now to close this first part of my discourse of the Nature of Christianity because tho it be not a particular grace it is a particular state and therefore deserves a particular consideration and tho we be not oblig'd to it upon pain of Damnation yet we are invited and encourag'd to it by several glorious motives and enforcements as shall presently appear and therefore it is a Gospel duty by Perfection in the sense I now consider it the Gospel implies a State of Grace arriv'd at its full maturity and strength grown into Nature and consummated into a vigorous and delightful habit it being in this as in all other qualities they grow up into habit and nature that is Perfection by degrees According to this the Gospel describes this State by Manhood and a perfect Stature and calls our procedure to it growing encreasing and going on so that perfection is nothing else but Faith Love Temperance and Humility in their greatest lustre and strength The effect of this State is that the Life be not onely constant firm even and like it self but also pleasant and delightful too not only that the man abstain from evil and do good but that also he do both with desire and earnestness of spirit with ease and with delight not onely that he do good but what is in its kind most so This is a State which is attainable in this Life for the Gospel calls and invites men to it and if any deny it it is because they frame to themselves another kind of notion of perfection than the Gospel delivers us which requires of Man no other perfection than such as is suitable to his Nature and the assistances promis'd by God and to this present State never as much as dreaming that perfection is the same thing in man as in an Angel and what ever men may talk it doth not reckon the unavoidable imperfections and frailties of men for sins at leastwise such as can hinder man from being denominated perfect witness the whole First Epistle of St. John The motives to this duty may be compriz'd under Four heads all deriv'd from the nature of the State it self Perfection is a State 1. More pleasing to God 2. Of greater security 3. Of greater pleasure 4. Entitled to greater glory in the Life to come 1. More pleasing to God if God Loves holiness which no body can doubt then every degree of holiness is a new charm and what is most Holy is most lovely and if so every one that professes to Love God must be oblig'd to aim at perfection because he cannot but be oblig'd to please God as much as he can and he that doth not may justly suspect his conformity to the divine precepts to be rather policy than Religion and to proceed from a desire of his own safety rather than the Glory and pleasure of God unless a spiritual prudence shall restrain him from attempts or vowes of more Heroical instances of obedience for Reasons which Religion may approve of in which case it will be alwayes necessary to observe this caution that his choice of a better good do not proceed from any desire of gratifying the body or from want of Love to God and holiness 2. Perfection is a state of greater security the more strong Faith and Love grow the more faint and flat are all temptations that beset us a soul which is devout and rais'd is not easily lur'd down by any of the flatteries of lust the soul being long accustomed to rule and the body to obey the soul being us'd to spiritual delights and the body being now perfectly crucified the man is become a quite different being from what he was and therefore that World which did before take him hath now no grace nor allurement in it I am crucified to the World and the World is crucified to me This State is call'd in Scripture Wisdom and Knowledge and Strength which doth intimate to us that that World which did before gain upon us only by our blindness and our weakness can now no longer prevail besides this the more like God we grow the more dear are we to him and become the more near and peculiar charge of Heaven which St. Paul Heb. 6 9.10 alledges for a reason why he was perswaded better things of them than Apostacy and things that accompany Salvation that is perseverance because God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of Love c. 3. It is a State of greater pleasure a State of Peace and Rest from sin for the Man having establish'd an entire conquest over himself is not frequently alarm'd by the lusts of the body because it is crucified the soul being rais'd and Heavenly is now too much exalted to be reach'd by the blasts of every temptation 2. It is the nature of a habit
thou hast done in all Meekness and Charity and Faith and Hope that I may be fitted for those Mansions thou art gone before to prepare for me Amen Amen SECT IV. Cantaining the fourth Motive to Holiness i. e. the Consideration of the vanity of all those things which tempt us to sin A Man who should have seriously laid to heart the strength and importance of these Motives to Holiness which I have considered would be apt to think that nothing less than some unimaginable temptation or some unavoidable necessity in the contrivance of our natures could provoke men to cast off all these Obligations and break thorough all these obstructions that he might sin and die but on the quite contraty which doth strangely reproach the folly of the sinner 1. Those things which are the allurements to fin have little or no temptation in them 2. Sin it self is a silly base thing And 3. Man hath strength enough offer'd to enable him to avoid it 1. The first I shall have occasion to consider fully in the third part of this Treatise and thither I refer the Reader only by the way we must take notice there is no more sttess to be laid upon this Argument than it will bear and that this Argument hath still respect to the joys and punishments of another life the sensual satisfactions of Man are very little and trifling compar'd with the pleasures of Heaven and it can never be worth a mans while to be damn'd for them yet sure if there were no life to come it would behove every man to be content with and make the most of this nor do I at all doubt but that men may manage their lusts so as that they may not be able to infer Reason enough to relinquish them from any influence they have upon their interest or if any one should think it necessary to purchase a pleasure by the shortning of his life or the lessening of his Estate I cannot see why he may not have reason on his side for a short life and a merry one and my mind to me a Kingdom is would upon the former supposition be a wise Proverb for upon this supposition the pleasure of the mind would be very narrow and faint and the checks of Conscience would be none or insignificant But as the case stands now though there be pleasure in sin and deceitfulness in lust granted in Scripture to abandon the hopes of Heaven for some carnal pleasures upon Earth is like Esau to sell his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage and on the other hand to renounce all present enjoyments for the sake of Heaven is like Peter to forsake a worn Fisher-boat and broken Nets a troubled Lake and uncertain Hopes for the assurance of a Crown and Kingdom which is surely very reasonable And now I pass on to the second thing and fifth Section SECT V. Containing a fifth Motive to Holiness from the Nature of Vertue and Vice IN 1 Ep. Jo. 1. this is set down as the great Message which Christ came to acquaint the world with that God is light and in him is no darkness at all and therefore they who walk in the light have fellowship with him and they that walk in darkness have none where it is plain that S. John founded the necessity of Holiness in the Divine Nature because God is holy therefore he must first renounce his own Nature e're he can establish any other contrary Laws or love or hate on any other condition than Holiness and sin This being so I think the best way to discover the Nature of Vertue and Vice is to consider how the one renders us like God and the other unlike him The Account we have of the Nature of God is that he is a Spirit of Eternal Life Infinite Power Wisdom Goodness Justice and Truth these are the chief of his Attributes and such as Reason it self acknowledges to be the highest perfections and excellencies imaginable If Holiness therefore tend to implant and improve some resemblances of them in men and Vice to efface and extinguish them it will easily appear how the one makes us like God and the other unlike him 1 God is a Spirit it is true that Vertue and Vice do not change the substances of things and make Spirit Flesh or Flesh Spirit yet because they do so wonderfully transform things by instilling new qualities and so altering the operations of beings they are in Scripture said to do so Thus because Vertue raises and refines the Soul frees it from those Fogs which a sensual dotage casts about it scatters a new light upon it and mortifies those affections which reign in the body and render it more obedient to the mind so that the man lives the life of Faith as becomes a wise and an immortal being therefore it is said in the Language of the Holy Ghost to have render'd him a spiritual man and on the other side because sin doth stupifie and sensualize the mind imbolden and pamper the body so that the soul seems to have chang'd its nature into flesh and relishes nothing of those pleasures which are properly spiritual but is wholly taken up with those enjoyments which are the proper and natural entertainments of flesh and blood not a Spirit therefore sin is said to have rendred the man a natural man 2. Eternal Life is the second Attribute of God Life in man is either of the Body or Soul as to the former Temperance Imployment and a chearful spirit are the great Preservatives of Health and the best supports of such crazy beings as our bodies are Religion injoyns the two former for no man can be holy without being temperate and imploid at least in doing good and it contributes very effectually to the later i. e. chearfulness of spirit by begetting in us a peaceful Conscience a resign'd mind and glorious hopes but sin shortens our hasty days by exposing us to diseases violence the Law and by the ill influence which a distemper'd mind hath upon the body as to the Soul Righteousness is the life of it it is the nourishment and pleasure the freedom and the security of it but sin is the death and plague of it non est vivere sed valere vita it is not the meer existing but the welfare and happiness of a being which is its life and if so how can a soul which is sick of passions daily tortur'd and distracted by an ill Conscience be said to live Besides sin doth impair the faculties o'recast the light and fetter the powers of the mind so that it neither understands nor wills nor commands as it ought to do it is rendred a poor sickly despicable being and therefore the sinner is said to be dead in trespasses and sins or at least because the Metaphor is not to be press'd too far as appears from the Text following if it hath any life it is as imperfect as that of a Lethargick drowsie body all 's a thick night
And grant that I may abhor those sins which efface thy Image and debase my Nature which render me a burthen to my self the hate of God and scorn of Man which make me unhappy here and miserable hereafter Grant this I beseech thee through Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour Amen SECT VI. Containing the sixth Motive to Holiness the assistance of the Divine Spirit I Do not think that in a Discourse of this Practical Nature it will behove me to enter into any Dispute about the strengths of laps'd Nature about the nature and necessity of Supernatural Grace I may in short affirm that we find in Scripture sometimes the birth sometimes the growth sometimes the perfection of the New Creature assign'd to the Holy Spirit as the great Author of it all which doth not yet discharge Man from the necessity of exerting all the strength and endeavour that he can for by those frequent Exhortations address'd to Man we may justly infer some ability suppos'd in him and by the frequent promises of the assistance of the Divine Spirit we may as reasonably infer an impotence which stands in need of this relief and from altogether we may conclude that the Spirit of God is so far forth dispens'd as serves the end of the Gospel and the necessities of mankind Our blessed Saviour after he had deliver'd upon the Mount a System of the most refin'd Precepts of Devotion and Purity Mortification and Charity as if he had foreseen that his Hearers would be dazled by the brightness of this Divine Image and look upon the Pattern as too high for the attainments of Humane Nature doth close the discourse first with an assurance of a Supernatural assistance of the Spirit of God And then secondly with asserting the necessity of a real and actual conformity of our lives to those holy Precepts Matth 7. v. 7. c. Ask and it shall be given you seek and ye shall find knock and it shall be open'd unto you for every one that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth and to him that knocketh it shall be open'd Where our Endeavours and the Divine Assistance are joyn'd together as being both necessary towards the great Work of Sanctification in the 9 10 11. verses he goes on to confirm them in the belief of this Promise from the example of Natural Parents who though evil have that Natural Affection for their Children that if a Son ask bread they will not give him a stone or if he ask a Fish they will not give him a Scorpion Much more is it inconsistent with the goodness of the Divine Nature to refuse Man that assistance which is indispensably necessary to the propagation of Holiness inconsistent with his Paternity to deny his craving Children that which is as necessary to their spiritual life as food is to their natural If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts to your Children how much more shall your Father which is in Heaven give good things his holy Spirit as appears from parallel places to them that ask him And when he had acquainted them with this I do not wonder that he concludes all with averring the necessity of Obedience to all those Excellent Precepts from verse 13. to the end for in vain do men quarrel at the purity of the Christian Doctrine as if it were a Religion fit for Angels rather than men in vain do they complain of the prevailing passions of flesh and blood and of the soft insinuations of a flattering World our ability to obey the Gospel is not to be measur'd by the strength of Nature but of the Spirit that God who hath call'd us to the profession of such Exalted Vertue hath allotted us an assistance suitable to so glorious an end so that these complaints are not the groans of a Penitent but the excuses of a fond and carnal mind All this certainly amounts to a very clear proof of the necessity and Excellency of Real and Inherent Holiness for to what purpose should we call down an assistance from Heaven to what purpose should the Divine Spirit be powred forth upon men if either there were no need or no use of such a Holiness which he is the Divine Principle of or if this Holiness were so impure and imperfect that it were not acceptable to God thorough Christ And which way now shall the impenitent sinner escape Divine Justice what Excuse can he frame for the defence of his Impiety he sins and dies not because he cannot do otherwise but because he will do so he perisheth not through impotence but obstinacy and what punishment think we can sufficiently avenge a contempt of or despight done to the Spirit of God! The Gentile is unexcusable because he did not obey those Laws which his Conscience did dictate to him though the Characters they were publish'd in were dark the Motives to and the Principles of his Obedience weak and feeble at least comparatively what tribulation and wrath and anguish then will punish our disobedience who have not only our duty openly publish'd by the Son of God and inforc'd upon our hopes and fears by glorious promises and dreadful threats but also the Spirit of God promis'd to enlighten our understandings to enfranchise and strengthen our wills to imprint the Motives of the Gospel in more sensible Characters on our spirits c. We must expect that our tribulation in the world to come will be proportion'd to our obstinacy in this and the anger of Almighty wrath will boil to a heat answerable to that infinite love and goodness we have despis'd The Prayer O My God how reasonable is it that I should obey thee since thou commandst me nothing but what thou giv'st me strength to perform I feel the weakness of my Nature and the strength of Temptations but this shall never discourage me thorough the might of thy Spirit I shall be sure to conquer it must be a weakness indeed which Omnipotence cannot relieve it must be a strange assault made by the world which can storm that Fort which the Spirit of the Almighty defends and that Law must be more than Seraphick which is exalted above the imitation of a Soul inspir'd and actuated by thee No no if thou vouchsafe but one Ray of thine Infinite Power I shall soon subdue the World and mortifie the Flesh I shall do the things which please thee here and I shall obtain everlasting life afterwards which grant for thy Mercies sake and thy Son Christ Jesus sake Amen SECT VII Of the Gospel-Covenant as it is a Motive to Holiness THe Covenant of Works was Do this and live Life was the reward of an unerring obedience and Death the punishment of every transgression of the Law so that by vertue of this Covenant none could expect to be Justified but he who had no sin to be charg'd with and therefore since there never was any such Man but Christ Righteousness could not be by the Law but now the
triumph o're such afflictions as these Having premis'd thus much I go on to consider that all Real Evils attack the Mind or the Body for what assaults only Reputation or Estate or other Possessions I reckon amongst Imaginary Evils and indeed they are none at all unless they make their passage thorough these to the Mind or Body As to the Body I know not how to prescribe to it what are Arguments to the Stone or Rhetorick to the Gout but herein 1. Either the pain is moderate or exquisite if moderate it is supportable if exquisite it cannot be lasting we are somewhat beholden to the frailty and weakness of our Nature for it in a great degree prevents our unhappiness a small pain cannot make us miserable and a great one will not let us continue so for it crushes it self as well as us by its own weight and our Nature dies and droops under the pain which it cannot suffer though for my part I must confess were it not for Christianity it would be but a poor comfort to me that my pain is great enough to butcher me and make an end of me in a moment that those miseries which dispers'd and stragling I could tolerably well encounter having combin'd and united all their forces overthrow me in a moment for men do not usually think themselves happy because they do not meet with miseries which are too big for and therefore not incident to their Nature but miserable if they meet with all the utmost they are capable of bearing yet through the assistance of Christianity this consideration becomes matter of much comfort for by the Revelation of Life and Immortality the state of pain by being momentany is as much diversified to us and those who knew no other life as the Red Sea to Israel and Egypt when the one only pass'd thorough it and the other perish'd in it and it is a mighty Obligation to persevere in Holiness maugre all the opposition of pain and trouble because this pain is not worthy to be compar'd with the glory which shall be reveal'd 2. If the affliction be too big for our strengths we are reasonably to expect supernatural recruits for since nothing befals the good but by Divine Permission and in order to their good I cannot see why if God will have our lives a Martyrdom we may not reasonably expect the assistance he allowed the Primitive Martyrs for without it we cannot suffer as we ought to do and consequently it cannot tend to our good 3. I am to enquire what the Soul can contribute towards making our bodily pain more easie and our burden more light That it can do somewhat is evident from examples of fact as was shew'd in the second Premise I 'le take notice farther only of two sorts of men as a proof of this truth though I might urge a hundred examples of the power of the Mind in sustaining the pains of the Body the ambitious and the covetous men which daily impose upon themselves cruelties which would make up a very formidable burden if laid on by Providence A vain man for an empty name starves in a Camp lies on the ground till his poor limbs grow stiff and clayy as the Earth their Bed and after all charges through smoak and blood to meet his death or comes off trailing a shatter'd Limb about the Field and is content with praise for the loss of a Leg or Arm c. The covetous man lives upon Eggs or Roots cloaths himself with Sackcloth almost despises Fame and Honour Friendship and Pleasure too and all this that he may die rich and if neither of these think themselves miserable I do not know why any other should Such is the strength of Whimsie or of Passion why Faith and Reason cannot do as much I cannot see because Reason is stronger than Whimsie and Faith calls in the aids of Imagination and Passion to boot Let it be granted then that the Mind can assist us somewhat in our sufferings and then let us enquire what Christianity prescribes as Remedies against Pain to inable us to conquer it 1. It discovers to us the true end of all afflictions Gods glory and our happiness for assuring us that all things are governed by a wise powerful and gracious God who doth not afflict the Children of men out of any pievish humour it must needs follow that his chastisements must be design'd to excellent ends and purposes that all shall work together for the best to them who love God and why should we not submit willingly to the Conducts of a wise God or why should not we suffer that condition contentedly which promotes most our own happiness Why should we be dissatisfied with a more boystrous wind which drives us more speedily into our Port If his glory be the main end and that be as much or more promoted by our patience in adversity as thankfulness in prosperity and our own Sanctification no less advanc'd is it not just matter of comfort rather than repining 2. It promises a weight of infinite glory which these light afflictions work for us so that that condition cannot be miserable which is full of the most glorious hopes and those too at a little distance for this life is but a moment 3. It calls us to the just consideration of our own Merits and having displaid a Scheme of our own sins it afterwards assures us that we are punish'd here that we may not be condemn'd hereafter Both which considerations beget in us Humility and Love and both render all sufferings easie for as Pride makes every little disgrace intolerable and magnifies every affront so Humility changes the face of the whole and represents the state as very answerable to our merits very reasonable and just 4. It proposes us the examples of Gods dearest Children and of the holy Jesus himself and invites us to weigh their shame and glory their sorrows and their Crowns together to consider their patience and the love of God and so to strive earnestly beholding their end 5. It assures us of strength in proportion to our necessities that God who looks on and sees the Combat will supply us with force answerable to the danger and then what matter how violent our afflictions are The sum of all is afflictions are intolerable because we our selves sharpen their stings and warm their poyson because we neglect or slight our own strengths we do not reason believe and pray I shall thankfully bless God for my afflictions if all the while I suffer I am washing off a sin and labouring for a Crown and untwisting my self from the world and dressing my Soul for Heaven I will thank God that he hath cast me into a condition void of those snares which soften and sensualize the mind to become sensual is a worse fate than to be scorn'd or poor for that is a change of our very Humanity and draws after it the contempt of Heaven this is a change only of outward
place i. e. Sacraments Prayer and Fasting each of which may be consider'd in a threefold respect 1. As Parts of Divine Worship or of Holiness in general 2. As Instruments of advancing Holiness 3. As Remedies and Antidotes against Temptation In each of which Relations I will consider each of them a little And 1. Of Baptism COnsider'd in the first sense of the three it contains a Solemn Profession of the Christian Faith an actual Renunciation of those Enemies of Christianity the World the Flesh and the Devil and a listing ones self into the service and obedience of Christ And because I cannot think that there is any Essential part in the System of Christianity meerly Ceremonial I cannot think but that besides the Admission into the Church which is the Body of Christ and consequently a Title to all the glorious priviledges of its Members our blessed Saviour doth endow the Person baptized with power from on high to perform all those great ingagements he takes upon him as will appear to any one who shall consider the Nature of Christianity which doth alway annex a Grace to the external Mean or Instrument or 2. The great things spoken or this Sacrament or 3. The value all understanding Christians have had for it or the effects which follow'd it when practis'd in the Infancy of the Church and I humbly conceive this to be the sense of the Church of England which supposes the thing signified by the outward Ceremony of Baptism to be a Death unto sin and a New-birth unto Righteousness But whatever become of this motion it is certain that it is a strange Obligation to a Holy Life and a Remedy against Sin as being a most solemn ingagement of our selves to the obedience of Christ from which we cannot start back without drawing upon our selves the guilt and punishment of Perjury and forfeiting all those advantages we partake of by it and I wish all would lay this to heart who plead the Obligations of Civility and Friendship Custom and Fashion in defence of their sins as if any trifling Ceremony were sufficient to supersede our Obligation to Christ and acquit us of that guilt which the breach of the most sacred Covenant brings upon us The Prayer BLessed and holy Saviour give me grace to remember my Baptismal Vow to remember that I am a sworn Enemy to the World the Flesh and the Devil and inable me to fight the good fight of Faith under thy Banner the Cross Let me have no truce entertain no friendship with thine and my Enemies Let them flatter me if they will with smiles and promises I am sure they mean nothing to me but death and ruine how shall any fantastick Obligations Cancel my duty to thee resulting from so solemn a Covenant In vain doth the World disguize its temptations under the forms of Civility and Honour I know no Civility which can oblige me to renounce my Vows no Honour that can excuse my Perjury in vain doth the World assault me by Greatness and Wealth and Glory these are the very things I resolv'd against when I took up the Cross of my Crucified Saviour in my Baptism Grant O blessed Lord that I may have mortified affections and a Victorious Faith an humble meek Spirit and glorious Hopes that after this troublesome life is ended I may rest with thee in Everlasting Glory Amen Amen Of the Lords Supper THe Supper of our Lord may fall under the same forms of Consideration which Baptism did that is it may be consider'd 1. As a part of Divine Worship 2. As an Instrument of Holiness 3. As a Remedy against Temptation I will look upon it briefly under each of these notions and herein I will guide my self by that incomparable Office of this Church which hath admirably express'd and reduc'd to a method the whole mind of the Gospel relating to this matter for which I have often bless'd God whilst I beheld and reverenc'd that Primitive plainness and truly Christian Spirit visible in it First then our Lords Supper consider'd as an act or part of Religious Worship or Holiness contains in it these four things 1. An humble acknowledgment of our sins 2. A devout Profession of our Faith in Christ that we are the Disciples of a Crucified Saviour and expect Salvation by no other way than that Sacrifice of his Body and Blood offer'd upon the Cross 3. A solemn Oblation of most humble and hearty thanks to God for this inestimable benefit his bestowing his Son upon us to die for us and to our Master and only Saviour Christ for his exceeding great love in dying for us 4. A most solemn Oblation of our selves souls and bodies to be a holy lively and acceptable Sacrifice unto God so that this Sacrament consists of a whole Constellation of Graces Repentance Faith Hope Charity It is a nearer approach into the presence of God and more solemn exercise of the Graces of the Gospel and this gives a very fair account of the reason of its frequent practice for nothing can be Secondly A more effectual instrument of Holiness upon these and the following accounts 1. That the preparation necessary as a condition of our worthy Reception doth awaken our Souls and refresh all our Graces and mortifie all our sensual Lusts and draws us nearer to Heaven and the necessity of such a preparation as the Church-office prescribes appears from hence that Repentance and Faith and Charity are absolutely necessary to inable a man to exert those acts before-mention'd which constitute this Sacrament consider'd as a part of Divine Worship and therefore to approach that holy Table without a Soul so qualified is to affront and mock the Majesty of Heaven 2. That the exercise of our Graces in receiving doth increase and improve them that act of humble Adoration and profound Prostration of our selves before God under a sense of his Purity and Majesty and our sinfulness and meanness that lively Acts of Faith whereby the Soul doth profess its firm belief of and dependance upon the Death and Passion of its dear Lord and Saviour for Salvation that love whereby the Soul offers its praises and its self a Sacrifice to God do leave such lively and lasting impressions upon mens minds as are not quickly nor easily effac'd and the Soul by the delight it finds in its exerting these Graces is inkindled with a desire of repeating the same Acts. 3. That the Sacrament it self hath a natural tendency to promote Holiness 1. By its sensible Representations of a Crucified Saviour the Symbols themselves being fit to bring into our minds the pain and sufferings of our dear Lord and Master 2. By that inward Grace inseparable from the worthy Reception of it bestow'd upon us to refresh and strengthen our Souls to root and confirm our Faith to inflame our Love and perfect our Hopes 3. By being a Pledge and Assurance to us of the pardon of our sins thorough the Blood of Christ 4. That it is